I grew up in Cape Town, South Africa. Inja means “dog” in Zulu – one of the native South African languages. We immigrated to Sydney in 2009.

I always remember having a dog in the house whilst growing up. I have to admit, I was never overly enamoured with them. It was when my middle daughter, Sam turned 8 and asked for a puppy that my love affair with “oodles” began. Sam got her wish – a Cavoodle named Toffee. He was however so much more than just her gift, he was a gift to us all. He instantaneously bought love, joy and completeness to our family. We wondered how we had ever been without him.

Two years later and with a tree change decision made; we moved away from the Upper North Shore of Sydney to set up home on a lifestyle block of 5 acres in beautiful Kurrajong – just one hour North West of Sydney.

We had a gorgeous home; gorgeous gardens and 1 dog. It was time to start thinking about a friend for Toffee. In my search for this friend I stumbled across a breeder and learnt of the guardian home program for their breeding mum’s and dad’s. I loved the idea of being a piece of the puzzle of creating these animals that give such joy! Within a couple of weeks – we collected Hazel.

On visiting Hazel after she had delivered her first litter… we fell in love with all her pups of course – and did land up getting one of her daughters, Roxi – who too was going to be on the breeding program… so 1 became 3. I had fallen hook, line and sinker in love.

With having had stressful corporate roles most of my life – I realised that the more I dealt with people, the more I wanted to spend time with my dogs!! This said 3 dogs was our limit!

Being the eternal optimist I am; I decided we didn’t need to get another dog ourselves – we would just look after other peoples! As such Kurrajong Oodles was born – an exclusive farm stay for all things “oooooooo”.  You basically bring your “ooooo” and they live with us in our home as one of our own – no kennels, just a spot on the couch. I saw from my guests how much joy and love they gave each of the families they belonged to.

Through Kurrajong Oodles – my path crossed with the amazing owner of Vineyard Labradoodles; Leigh Lewis. Leigh agreed to be my mentor. With her agreeing to teach me the ropes – I was able to piece together my own puzzle of creation.

inja Labradoodles was born.